


Trinkets

by Sapphin3



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Afterlife, Canonical Character Death, Established Relationship, Friendship, Ishimaru Kiyotaka-centric, M/M, Other, Platonic Cuddling, Reunions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:40:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29407071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphin3/pseuds/Sapphin3
Summary: DANGANRONPA THH SPOILERS!Kiyotaka Ishimaru reunites with his dead classmates in the afterlife. He collects trinkets from them all which he proudly displays in his room to show his pride.CH. 1/2 - ReunionsCH. 3 - SayakaCH. 4 - LeonCH. 5 - Chihiro (WIP)CH. 6 - Mondo (WIP)CH. 7 - Hifumi (WIP)CH. 8 - Celeste (WIP)CH. 9 - Sakura (WIP)
Relationships: Fujisaki Chihiro & Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Ishimaru Kiyotaka & Celestia Ludenberg, Ishimaru Kiyotaka & Kuwata Leon, Ishimaru Kiyotaka & Maizono Sayaka, Ishimaru Kiyotaka & Ogami Sakura, Ishimaru Kiyotaka & Yamada Hifumi, Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Oowada Mondo
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1 - The Afterlife

**Author's Note:**

> Alright let's start this.  
> First chapter just has a lot of gay Ishimondo.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru was dead. He knew that, of course, but that didn’t change the fact.

He woke up on the floor of the art room. Strange, because he remembers dying in the equipment room, but that didn’t really matter. The room was barren of anything other than what was in there previously as well as himself.

His brain was suddenly swarmed with memories of his time before the tragedy. His friendships, tests, teachers, even his relationship with Mondo.

_I guess it makes sense now on how we connected so quickly… a bond like that cannot easily be taken away._

Deciding not to dwindle on that matter for too long, he headed out of the room.

Taka slowly walked downstairs. He didn’t feel like he was in a rush, and it gave him a moment to think.

_I feel like my head should hurt… but it doesn’t._

He mostly thought about his death. When he died, he heard Hifumi cry out before a searing pain shot throughout his skull. He said something about avenging Celeste and Alter Ego. What happened? Why attack _him?_

Most importantly, why was he so stupid to trust that note?

Truthfully, he knew the answer. Not only was he not… _himself_ at the time, but…

He sort’ve knew what would happen.

He shook the thoughts out of his head once he reached the first floor of the school. He could hear talking coming from the cafeteria, and decided his best bet was to go there.

Nobody noticed him at first when he opened the door. All the tables were shoved aside, save for one in the center of it all. He saw all the previously deceased students there, sans Junko.

Sayaka and Leon were talking animatedly, something about a singer of sorts. Chihiro was laughing into his hand, simply listening to the two. Mondo was the least energetic of the group, slouched slightly and pretending to pay attention.

He felt himself tear up as he took his first real step into the cafeteria. He forced himself to speak, despite how clogged up his throat suddenly felt.

_“Mondo...?”_

Everyone looked over to him. Mondo was the quickest, though, and Taka worried about his neck snapping from the sheer force of it.

“TAKA!?” Mondo yelped, quickly scrambling to his feet. He sprinted towards Taka, engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug upon impact. Ishimaru hugged back.

They stood there for what felt like hours, their sobs loud and sloppy. They didn’t care, though. All that mattered in the moment was each other. Taka could faintly register the others squeezing behind them and out the doors to offer them privacy, but didn’t care to acknowledge it. He simply held onto Mondo tighter.

Finally, the red-eyed teen thought it appropriate to separate once they both had calmed down enough. He let go and looked up to Mondo, both their faces red from their crying. Kiyotaka pushed against the taller softly, but he didn’t let go. Instead he picked him up slightly, fell to the ground, and placed him in his lap. Once he accomplished his task, he buried his head into the moral compasses’ shoulder. Taka let it happen. He leant his own atop the others’ when he spoke up.

“I missed you.”

Mondo hiccupped, squeezing his torso. “I missed you too. God, Taka, I missed you so fucking much-”

“Language,” he scolded. Mondo chuckled.

“Sorry, I just… God. I’m so sorry.”

Taka shushed him, gliding his hands against his scalp. He didn’t want Mondo blaming himself for what had happened – he forgave him already.

“It’s alright, dear. I do not blame you… it’s all Junko’s fault. Please, do not beat yourself up over it.”

Mondo looked up at him, a blush spreading across his face from the term of endearment. Ishimaru was about to panic and apologize, not sure if Mondo was ready to continue dating in death, but the man kissed him before he could.

He missed this. He missed them holding each other, missed whispering words of endearment in the middle of class, missed sneaking kisses during lunch. He missed _Mondo._ Even if it were by the worst circumstances, they were reunited once again.

They parted after a minute but kept their foreheads together. They sat in a comfortable silence, quietly holding each other. Mondo was even rocking him slightly. It was calm.

Kiyotaka decided to break the silence when he saw Mondo’s face fall abruptly. “What’s wrong?”

Mondo backed up slightly without letting go. He looked away, anger and sadness plastered all over his face.

“If you’re here… somebody must’ve killed you, yeah? ’M happy y’er here, and I missed you, but I didn’t want you to _die,_ ” he released the prefect, tightening his hands into fists. “I swear I’ll kill whoever did this to you.”

Taka held his hands, prompting Mondo to look at him. He gave him the softest look he could muster. “I know you’re upset, and you have every right to be. But I’d rather be here with you than living in fear and agony every day. Besides, if we see him again, he’d already be dead.”

“Then I’ll kill him twice,” he huffed in reply. “It was Byakuya, wasn’t it? That bastard.”

Taka shook his head. “No, no. I mean, it was a surprise to me, but I’m sure that they had a reason.”

Mondo looked back to Taka, “then who? Can’t really imagine anyone else.”

“That doesn’t matter, my love. Please, calm down.”

The biker sighed, finally interlacing their fingers. “Fine. Can we stay here for a while, though? We can talk to the others and catch up later.”

Taka nodded, settling back into his boyfriend’s chest.

Well, he would have, had he not spotted a large figure emerging from the doorway.

“Oh… uh… hello Mr. Ishimaru, Mr. Owada.”


	2. Chapter 2 - The Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hifumi and Taka explain their deaths to the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to properly use Japanese honorifics so I'm just avoiding them. I did research but it didn't seem adequate.

Taka had to hold back Mondo from beating the absolute _shit_ out of Hifumi Yamada. The moment his lavender eyes locked onto the fanfic creator, he had sprung to his feet, fists tight and snarl wide. Hifumi had squeaked, cowering against the now closed door. He covered his head in fear of it being slammed again.

“Mondo! This behavior is unacceptable in a school environment!”

Scowling at the thicker teen, he backed down. Mondo was quick to hold his partner against his body, arm wrapped around the other’s waist. Taka reached for Mondo’s unused hand, squeezing slightly and giving him a kind glance. The taller male melted.

Turning his attention to Hifumi briefly, he smiled. “We should probably meet with the others before starting any stories. Dear, do you know where they may be?”

Mondo shrugged before pulling Taka out of the cafeteria. Hifumi waddled behind them like a duckling to its’ mother, yet kept a good distance as to not anger the biker.

After a moment of searching, they discovered the students congregated in Sayaka’s room. They all greeted the three, inviting them to sit on the floor in the little circle they had created. A game of Uno was afoot.

“So… it’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it, but… what happened? Also, Hifumi, that was quick.” Sayaka prompted.

Kiyotaka opened his mouth to respond, but Hifumi started bawling before he could get a single syllable out.

“I’M _SORRY!_ Ms. Yasuhiro tricked me into killing Mr. Ishimaru! I would have never done it if it weren’t for that… that wretched witch!”

Taka gaped at him and Mondo took deep breaths to calm himself. Leon was the first to speak up. “Yasuhiro is Celeste, right? She tricked you? How?”

Hifumi wiped at his face and bowed his head. “She told me that Mr. Ishida had stolen Alter Ego. I-I couldn’t imagine that my love was in any danger, as she had implied! Then she told me that Mr. Ishida had assaulted her, and that was it! I didn’t realize until she attacked me that it was all a lie! Grr, I’m so stupid!”

Everyone looked at both Hifumi and Taka in confusion. Mr. Ishida? Who was that? And what’s this about an alter ego?

Taka would have been able to answer their queries had he not been puzzled himself. He’d never assault anybody!

Chihiro piped up in an attempt to help everyone get on the same page. “You guys found Alter Ego? That’s good,” he turned to all the deceased students, “Alter Ego is a program I made based off me to try and figure out what was going on inside the school. I-It was coded to search through all the data. I hope it was useful?”

Chihiro turned back to Hifumi and Kiyotaka with his last sentence, an anxious look stretched across his face. Hifumi fervently nodded.

“She was perfect! My love gave our peers some very useful information!”

Everyone cringed at the pronoun, as well as the nickname. Mondo was the quickest to call him out for it, though.

“Chihiro’s a guy, dickwad! And Alter Ego's a program, a’ that! Not some sick 2D fantasy for y’er enjoyment!”

Hifumi screeched, terrified of the gang leader. He started to sweat, twisting his hands together. “I-I know! B-But she- uh, he was all I had! I was so frightened, and s- he was there for me! Mr. Ishida only made it worse by constantly trying to take him from me!” Yamada pointed an accusatory finger at the prefect, who flinched back.

“Ishida? D’you mean Ishimaru?” Leon questioned with a chuckle.

Kiyotaka finally got his bearings, beating Hifumi to the punch. “No, he means Ishida. Once Mondo died, I was… not myself. I didn’t speak, I barely ate, I could hardly even comprehend simple conversations and instructions. Then… then Alter Ego took on the form of Mondo to cheer me up, and I guess it kind of snapped me out of it. In a form of coping, I changed completely. I called myself ‘Kiyondo Ishida,’ and claimed that I was a combination of both myself and Mondo. It was… strange, to say the least. I could not process what was going on. It was like a whole other person was controlling my body. No matter what I tried, I was not the same.”

Mondo gazed worriedly to his boyfriend. He gripped the moral compasses’ sleeve, concern flowing through his body.

“Y-yes!” Hifumi spoke up, “It was very unexpected! Mr. Ishimaru went from being completely stoic and unresponsive to completely off the charts! The first time he cursed when he insulted me threw me for a loop!”

Leon barked out a laugh, his wide eyes locked on Hifumi. “He cussed? Like, no shit?”

Taka’s face flushed a violent red and he sunk into Mondo’s shoulder. He simply chuckled at his expense.

“It was censored, of course. I don’t think Mr. Ishimaru would ever curse! Well, I know that’s not true now-” he was suddenly reminded of when Kiyotaka cussed in Mondo’s class trial, as well as the rare times late into their years at Hopes Peak, “but it was still strange!”

Sayaka and Chihiro shook their heads fondly, giggling at the imagery. Well, until Sayaka decided to save Taka from the teasing.

“Alright, so Celeste convinced you to… hurt him. How did you die, then? You said she attacked you?”

Hifumi nodded as he adjusted his glasses. “Yes! The vile woman struck me over the head once I had moved Mr. Ishimaru’s body to the art room! She’s probably cackling evilly as we speak!”

Mondo glared at him from where he was holding Taka, and Hifumi stuttered to redeem himself. “A-A-A-Also, I-I’m sorry, Mr. Ishimaru! I-I was a fool to believe you’d do anything so awful! Please forgive me!”

Taka nodded; a soft, small grin directed to the fanfic creator. “Of course. We all were forced into a terrible situation with no way to escape other than to kill. You acted on impulse and fear, and it would be terrible of me to forgive Mondo, Leon, and Sayaka but not you just because I was the victim. The only person at fault here is Junko.”

Everyone murmured their agreement; even the ever-stubborn Mondo Owada. Kiyotaka patted his hand to show his appreciation.

\---------------------------------------------------------

After a few more hours of talking, as well as a newly started game of Uno, everyone had dispersed. Hifumi and Chihiro had gone into their own rooms, and Leon had dragged a reluctant Mondo into his own to show him something.

Kiyotaka had stayed behind to help Sayaka reorganize her room. They replaced blankets, pillows, and packed up the Uno deck. It would have taken less than a minute had Taka not noticed a set of CDs shoved in a corner behind other knickknacks. It looked purposefully hidden.

“My apologies if this seems impolite, Maizono, but what are these?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins!


	3. Chapter 3 - Sayaka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sayaka gets scolded, featuring Celeste.

_“My apologies if this seems impolite, Maizono, but what are these?”_

Sayaka snapped her head up at the sentence, promptly peering over to see what the prefect was talking about. Upon noticing it, she snickered.

“It’s an old album of mine. At the time, I didn’t know how to combine songs into one disc, so each is its’ own song.”

“Why is it all the way back there?”

“I’m not that proud of it. I was new to music and didn’t know how to rhyme for my life.”

“Then why shove it in the back? If you were to put it up front, it’d be a reminder of how far you’d come, no?”

Sayaka shook her head light-heartedly, “I don’t know. I just don’t like looking at them. Out of sight, out of mind, right? It just feels wrong to throw them out.”

Taka held a finger to his chin for a moment, contemplating. Slowly, he reached for the stack. Sayaka watched in silence as he examined them. Abruptly, he beamed, whipping around to face the girl.

“Then I’ll keep them! That way I can constantly be reminded of your accomplishments myself!”

Sayaka stood dumbfounded on her soft plush carpet, staring wide-eyed and shocked at the male. “Why?”

He looked back to the pile, smile resting into a gentler smirk. “Because I’m proud of you. You’re an astonishing singer, good enough to place yourself in Hope’s Peak of all places! That talent is worth being acknowledged, and if you refuse to, I’ll have to take over for you.”

The singer rolled her eyes, “Just take my newer tracks, then. Here, I’ve got some-”

“No!”

Maizono jumped when Taka yelped. She rose an eyebrow to him, stuck half-way reaching for a bag.

Ishimaru took a deep breath to compose himself. When he spoke again, it was much softer. “No, I would much rather have these. You see, _real_ success comes from failures. You learn from your mistakes and adjust to become something you can be proud of. This is a reminder of that, and I refuse to let it be tossed away behind the victories. If you and I were to only view your triumphs rather than any of your fails, you’d – obviously – only be able to review the modern work. However, if you were to put everything on full display, you can compare the past to the present, shining light on the reality of your hard work.”

“I… I don’t really understand.”

Taka sighed, setting the albums down temporarily as he strode over to the idol. “Say, Maizono, do you ever put yourself down because a song you release isn’t as good as another, or not as perfect as you’d like it to be?”

She rubbed her arm, tensing slightly. “Uh… yeah. Yeah, I do.”

Grasping both her shoulders, Taka said, “That is because you do not open yourself up to look at the full picture. You simply compare yourself to your best instead of your worst. If you let yourself remember how far you’ve truly come, then you can genuinely be proud of your work.”

Sayaka remained stationary, maintaining the intense eye-contact she had with Ishimaru. Then, she grinned.

“I think I get it now. Thank you, Ishimaru.”

He let go, shuffling back to the discs. “Please, call me Taka.”

“Then you can call me Sayaka.”

Chuckling, the moral compass grabbed the stack. He split it in half, placing the first half on a nearby shelf, keeping the rest for himself.

“I shall take my leave now, Sayaka. I hope you think about what I’ve said.”

She nodded and let him pass. Once he closed the door, she faced her collection once more.

Maybe – just maybe – she’d leave them there.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Taka left the room in higher spirits than he was in before. Once he closed the door, he faced an approaching figure.

“Celestia?” he asked.

Giggling beneath her hand, she stopped her movement. She opened her mouth to make a witty retort when all of a sudden, she deflated.

Noticing the change, the prefect rushed the few feet gap to her. “Is everything alright, Celestia?”

She crossed her arms, turning away from him. “I… I am sorry, Ishimaru.”

He gaped at her, “What for?”

She looked at him as if he had two heads- and at this point, he wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

“I had Hifumi kill you? Oh, unless he didn’t tell you that…” she blushed.

Shaking his head, he squeezed her hand. “No, I know. But I am not mad at you in the slightest. We were put in a terrible situation, and nobody but Junko is at fault for that.”

Celeste disguised her smile as a scowl. She huffed, “You are truly an enigma, Ishimaru. I don’t believe I will ever understand you.”

He let go, smirking at the woman. “Me neither.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure I feel about this chapter, to be honest. But no matter what I did, I couldn't make it sound right. I can only hope that it made sense to you all.
> 
> Comments give me the energy to write, as usual. :p


	4. Chapter 4 - Leon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon's turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Concerning Mondo and Leon's argument in this chapter: I think Leon would like both dogs and cats, but would prefer to own a cat more because they're less work.

After his brief conversation with Celestia as well as a quick trip to his dorm, Ishimaru decided to see what Leon and Mondo were up to. He marched over to the open door leading to Kuwata’s room and peered inside. There sat the duo – both on Leon’s bed – casually bickering.

“Hello!” Taka shouted in his typical boisterous voice in order to announce his arrival. The two on the mattress looked over to him, large smiles on their faces.

“Hey, babe,” Mondo replied, “we’re just figuring out whether dogs or cats are better.”

Taka giggled and sat himself next to Mondo, not sharing his own opinion and letting the two continue their argument. Mondo – of course – thought dogs were superior, but Leon surprisingly preferred cats. Personally, Taka would love to have _both_ a cat and dog, but didn’t want to be dragged into the crossfire. He was perfectly content observing.

Not even a minute passed before Kuwata relented, finding the whole debate hilarious. In Leon’s mind he was right; that’s all that mattered. Wasn’t like he had a vendetta against dogs, anyways.

“Whatever, man, this is a stupid argument anyways,” he said, “Anyways, Mondo, shouldn’t we show Taka the thing from earlier?”

Mondo’s eyebrows creased in confusion before immediately shooting up. “No, no, no! We don’t gotta do that!”

Leon cackled condescendingly, getting up despite Mondo’s protests. The two hurried to a spot at the back of the ultimate baseball player’s room. Taka watched, alarmed yet intrigued.

“Taka! Catch!” Leon yelped from across the room. Suddenly, a small, light brown object went flying over Mondo’s head towards him. He caught it, instantly examining it.

It was a small wooden cat. It was clearly an inexperienced piece, but nice nonetheless. It was evident that a lot of effort was put into the figurine.

Kiyotaka caught onto Leon’s mischievous look quickly. He beamed, ignoring Mondo’s pitiful whine.

“Mondo! Did you make this?”

Mondo whined again, plopping down next to Taka. He sadly dropped his head sideways onto Kiyotaka’s legs, not answering. He did, however, cross his arms defiantly. Taka snickered.

“Yep, he made it for me!” Leon cheered, not yet sitting down. Ishimaru patted his boyfriend’s hair and praised him. Mondo still refused to speak.

“Well, Kuwata, it is very nice of you to keep it! What other things do you have in your room?”

Leon scratched his neck uncomfortably and looked around. “Uh... Some trophies and other random shit…”

Taka held back on scolding him for his language (they were already dead, he realized that their futures didn’t particularly matter anymore) and instead listened silently. The boy went over each item in his dorm as Ishimaru softly kneaded Mondo’s head. The atmosphere was calm, a nice contrast to the past few hours.

Worryingly, when he got to the trophies, his peppy attitude rapidly wore down. He talked about only a few, general disdain written across his face. Ishimaru decided to cut in while Leon was talking about an inside championship in order to find the root of the problem.

“Leon, what’s wrong?”

The baseball player turned to Kiyotaka, confused. “What?”

“You don’t sound proud of any of your triumphs!”

Leon scoffed, picking up the award he was just going over. “Yeah. I fuckin’ hate baseball. I’d rather do music, but I’m not near good enough for it to be my ultimate…”

Taka stood, letting Mondo’s head loll off his lap. He trotted to Kuwata, taking the trophy from him. He held it against his chest like a protective mother would to their child. Leon simply cocked an eyebrow at him.

“But! But your achievements!” Taka cried desperately. Not only was he still recovering from his conversation from Sayaka, he also was much closer to Kuwata. This felt like betrayal.

Leon tensed when tears sprung from the prefect’s eyes. He looked desperately to Owada, but he only shrugged. _How helpful._

“Uh… It’s not that big of a deal, man…” he tried, cautiously reaching for the boy’s shoulders.

Apparently, that was the wrong approach.

_“NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?!”_

Leon recoiled, slowly backing away a few steps. Mondo sat up in a panic, worried for his boyfriend. The moral compass started to pace frantically back and forth, still cradling the prize.

“Not that big of a deal,” he repeated in exasperation, “are you serious?! You have such a big talent that just comes _naturally_ to you, and- and you just think it’s _not that big of a deal._ You can’t be serious!”

He stopped walking when Mondo placed a soft hand on his arm. Ishimaru promptly caught up to his actions and furiously scrubbed at his eyes. Upon gaining most of his composure, he spun swiftly to the musician.

“Leon Kuwata, listen to me and listen to me closely!” Kiyotaka shouted. “I understand that baseball is not your passion, but that does not dismiss your talent! You must acknowledge that skill! Just because you don’t like it does not mean that you are not good at it!”

“But-“

“No buts! I want you to think about this conversation! You may decide to disregard me completely, and I cannot stop you. However, I think you deserve some praise for your natural abilities! Not everyone can do that!

“Now, I normally do not appreciate success with no effort. But since you have a passion where you _do_ have to work, I can let it slide! Please, dwell on my previous words!”

With that, Kiyotaka paraded out of the door with the trophy clutched tight. Mondo glanced perplexed to Leon before rushing after his partner like a puppy. Kuwata was forced to stand awkwardly in the aftermath.

_What the fuck just happened?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many fic ideas that I have written down in my phone, but I have this story and another two that I have to finish. Why do I do this to myself?

**Author's Note:**

> Comments give me the energy to write!


End file.
